by Sable Sylvan
“Anything new?” asked Daisy.
“Daisy, hey,” said Wylie, standing and offering the chair to Daisy. “Sit down; I wanted to show you something.”
Daisy took a seat and Wylie opened a spreadsheet. “I’ve calculated your monthly income and expenditure,” explained Wylie. “And I have an idea for a better business plan which would increase your income while lowering expenditure.”
“What’s the idea?” asked Daisy. Wylie was leaning over to explain, and she could feel his body’s heat even when he was standing behind her. It was a heat that made her uncomfortable to be in her clothes in more than one way.
“I’ve lived in this town my whole life,” said Wylie. “And most people do not get their fruit at the grocery store; they get it at the farmer’s market.”
“Oh, I didn’t know that, everyone back where I’m from buys at the grocer,” said Daisy.
“Well, you didn’t live near Portland and Seattle before,” explained Wylie. “Every region has their own unique crop: just like New Yorkers go up into upstate New York to go apple picking, people around the Pacific Northwest will come from far and wide to go berry picking, or to buy berries from local farms.”
“I didn’t ever think of that, but it does make sense,” said Daisy.
“Well, what if you had a farm stand and sold at the farmer’s market?” asked Wylie. “There’s a ton of events around town where you can sell your fruit and honey. You can even sell preserves and pastries. My other idea involves letting people pick fruit. You’d of course need someone for security, and someone to handle cash, and another person to supervise the fruit picking, but you’d be able to charge a lot more money for the fruit, up to two dollars a lb.”
“That’s...actually a really great idea,” said Daisy. “The grocer buys them for a buck fifty from me, and they sell them for three dollars, so this way, I make twenty-five percent more and still sell at a competitive price. Plus, I won’t need to hire people to pick the berries...I’d just need to hire people for those positions you mentioned.”
“And you can sell the honey direct too, at a higher price than the stores buy it from you,” said Wylie. “But, you could also still sell the excess at the grocers as a kind of backup plan, if you have leftover fruit at the end of the day. Plus, it’s a good method of marketing while you transition to a farm stand and the pick your own fruit model, which we call a ‘u-pick’ model.”
“U-pick?” asked Daisy. Wylie’s cheek had accidentally brushed against hers, and the usually clean-cut shifter was already growing a five-o-clock shadow, as shifter bodies ran faster, and the stubble rubbed against the side of her head ever so often, as he moved his head during the conversation.
“Like ‘you-pick’,” explained Wylie. “It’s just the term used. There’s a county fair coming up as well as some back to school events for the kids. You could sell berries there, even out of the back of your pickup truck. In terms of branding, I was thinking you could change the name of the farm and the logo to something more modern –”
“Nope, that’s where I draw the line,” said Daisy, shaking her head as she turned to look at Wylie. “Family’s too important to me. The name, the logo, and the farm are a package deal. You can’t have one without having all three.”
Wylie put his hands up. “Alright, got it. The name and logo stay the same.”
“Wylie, you had a ton of really good ideas,” said Daisy. “You might’ve just saved me the farm.”
“Hey, just doing my job,” said Wylie with a wink. “I’ve still got some numbers to run, do you wanna work with me or...?”
“Sure,” said Daisy softly. She got up from the chair and let Wylie sit back in the office chair while she got a folding camping chair and brought it in so she could sit comfortably and watch Wylie work his magic.
When Wylie and Daisy had first met, she never would have thought that he’d be anything more to her than a sly trickster that she had to watch out for. She never would have guessed that they would’ve become friends, or that she would’ve become friends with Bill and Liam, but right now, the arrangement didn’t feel like an arrangement at all. It felt like a business venture that she was pursuing with friends.
As Wylie typed, his arms moved and brushed against Daisy’s arm, but he didn’t look back, pretending to be engrossed in his work. His bear roared: this wasn’t the time for computer wizardry, but the time to woo a mate! Wylie hushed the bear, as it was not the time for shifting.
Daisy felt the warmth of Wylie’s furry arm against hers and it sent a tingle down her spine, and down her pants. Wylie had strong arms for a computer nerd: back in Texas, all the men she was around were alpha males like Liam, built like Bill, with strapping bodies. Lean, tall, muscular men like Wylie were only seen in fashion magazines.
“Hey, do you wanna see something cool?” asked Wylie, turning to face Daisy at the same time she turned to face him. Their lips brushed as they both turned at the same time and Wylie instinctively kissed Daisy, pressing his lips against hers on purpose this time, before placing a hand around her back and pulling her close.
Daisy hadn’t meant to kiss Wylie when she turned, but as soon as Wylie pressed himself against her, all bets were off. She placed a hand on his chest to feel his warm pecs, not to push him away. Wylie’s chest was broad and hot, but even in the July heat, Daisy craved the heat Wylie had to offer. She started to unbutton his shirt, pressing her hand at the top of his neckline.
As Wylie felt Daisy’s hands explore his body, his eyes flashed, a bright green that countered his naturally green eyes in terms of brightness, but which matched them in terms of hue. The bear inside was roaring, telling Wylie to take the woman and make her his mate, then and there. The human wanted to listen to the bear, to not be the straight-laced William for the first time in his life, to be cocky like Liam or to be a man exuding pure masculinity like Bill...but he held himself back.
Wylie desperately wanted Daisy to undress him, to expose his chest...but he knew he couldn’t let her see the mark, not yet. He pushed her hand away. “Not yet,” he said softly, whispering into Daisy’s ear and holding his hand in hers as he nuzzled her neck softly, inhaling the smell of the woman he’d been falling fast for.
“You had something you wanted to show me?” asked Daisy, pulling back from Wylie. She’d gone too far and now she had to rein it in.
“Yeah, I did,” said Wylie. His eyes flashed as his bear roared: he could’ve escalated the situation, taking his mate right then and there on that office desk, but instead, he’d let a pack tell him, a solitary bear, what to do? Wylie hushed the bear, there was good reason for listening to the other Williams. “But I’m drawing a blank right now.”
“Does that happen often?” asked Daisy.
“Only around really, really pretty girls,” said Wylie with a wicked wink before turning back to the computer...Daisy’s hand still in his free hand on the left as he moved his right hand to use the mouse.
Daisy held onto Wylie’s hand until he had to pull away to go back to typing, but this time, as Wylie typed, Daisy couldn’t stop but think about how much she’d like to have those fingers doing something different, somewhere different...
The hours with Wylie seemed to pass like minutes, but once she heard the ding of the dishwasher, Daisy got up to put the dishes away and then, to get cleaned up for dinner, as the already stuffy office had gotten much hotter with Wylie’s presence.
Somebody grabbed Daisy from behind, around the waist. She turned and faced Wylie. “You scared me,” said Daisy, pushing at Wylie’s chest gently, her tone cross. “You shouldn’t sneak up on me like that.”
“Sorry, couldn’t help myself,” said Wylie. “I’m done in the office, so I’m going to go check up on the boys and help out.”
“Totally, that makes sense,” said Daisy. “See you later, I guess.”
As Wylie walked out the door to join Liam and Bill, Daisy’s stomach lurched. She had feelings for Wylie and Liam, and the kiss had only made her
more confused. It wasn’t like she was exclusive to any of them, or even dating them, so it shouldn’t have mattered to her...in theory. In reality, Daisy was a strong Texan woman with strong morals to match, and where she was from, women didn’t sneak around giving out smooches to any man who asked.
Daisy took the time to look over the accounting: it was solid, and Wylie had even drawn up a business plan for her that detailed the various steps she’d need to take to transition to a different business model. There were mockups of possible food truck and farm stand layouts, as well as blueprints for future crop layouts.
Daisy came back out to the kitchen, but only Liam was there, even though it was dinnertime. “Hey, Liam, what’s the plan for dinner?” asked Daisy.
“We’ve got a surprise for you,” said Liam. “But it’s really more a surprise from Bill.”
“Bill?” said Daisy, surprised. Bill was the William she’d spent the least amount of time with.
“Yeah, he and Wylie have to set it up a bit more, but you know what that means,” said Liam.
“What?” asked Daisy, confused.
Liam pulled Daisy close and said, “It means I can do this.” Liam started to press closer to Daisy, but Daisy gently pushed on his chest, and pulled away.
“What’s wrong?” asked Liam.
“It’s just...I’ve already kissed someone else today,” said Daisy.
“So?” asked Liam.
“So...it’s not right to kiss two guys in one day,” said Daisy.
“According to whose rules?” asked Liam.
“Society’s rules,” said Daisy. “My rules.”
“To heck with society, but a lady’s got to have rules to live by,” said Liam, letting go of Daisy’s waist. “But...I’m not the kind of guy that cares what you do, Daisy. As long as you’re happy, and I’m sure whoever the other guy is, he feels the same.”
“I’m not sure about that,” admitted Daisy.
“Hey, this doesn’t have to be weird,” said Liam, pushing a hair out of Daisy’s face and tucking it behind her ear. “But I know one way to get your mind off this. Come on. We can’t let Wylie and Bill have all the fun.” Liam took Daisy by the hand, and she didn’t pull away as he led her out the ranch house’s front door.
Even though the handholding was chaste in theory, it made Daisy feel worse about the whole situation with Liam and Wylie. It seemed more emotionally intense, and thus, it felt more like cheating...but that word ‘cheating’ just didn’t sit right with Daisy. Sure, a gal wasn’t supposed to have relations with two men at once, at least back where she was from, but things in Oregon weren’t the same as things in Texas, and she hadn’t lived in a shifter town back home. Port Jameson was simultaneously a lot like home, in that there were good people with traditions who looked after one another, and at the same time, nothing like Texas at all, in that the men here were paying her way more attention than she was used to...about three times as much, and more. The only way that the situation could be more complicated would be if Daisy developed feelings for Bill. So of course, that’s exactly what happened next.
Chapter Five
Outside, in the back of the farm close to the forest, there was a patch of land that Daisy had never been able to get anything to grow on. It was technically part of Daisy’s farm but as she never used it, she had put a fence up to keep out predators...and trespassers, although it hadn’t done much good at protecting the farm from the three Billy’s.
The patchy grass was now covered in gravel and there were carved log benches around the patch in a circle. In the center of the patch was a big cylinder made of cinder blocks, three cinder blocks thick, and inside the cinder block circle was a roaring fire, with a whole pig over the fire.
“This is amazing,” said Daisy, walking up to Bill, who was tending the fire.
“You like it?” asked Bill.
“It’s awesome!” said Daisy. “We had a fire pit just like this on my parent’s farm and I miss having barbeques with my friends. Is this the dinner plan?”
“Yeah, we weren’t sure if you’d like it, but –” started Bill.
Daisy pulled Bill in for a spontaneous hug. “But it’s perfect!” Daisy pulled away. “Bill, this is amazing, thank you so much!”
Liam opened the cooler and pulled out four beers. They weren’t twist-off caps but he twisted the caps up and off the bottles with ease. “To new friendships,” he said, passing a beer to each of the people around the fire.
“To new friendships,” everyone agreed, clinking the necks of their bottles before sipping at the beer.
Daisy hadn’t had a beer with friends since she’d left Texas, as she hadn’t made any new friends in Port Jameson, what with running the farm and all...but the people she’d hated the most in town had ended up becoming her closest companions. She sipped at the beer and took a seat and chatted with the boys on one of the logs near the fire while the pig roasted.
The pig was delicious. Daisy had ribs, her personal favorite cut of pork. The ribs were delicious, even without sauce. When Wylie pulled out four long sticks and a roll of aluminum foil, Daisy just about lost it.
“No frikkin’ way,” said Daisy. “S’mores?”
“Of course, it’s not a real cook-out without s’mores,” said Wylie. He pulled out a box of ice cream cones
Daisy snorted. “Are we having ice cream or...?”
“You’re telling me you’ve never had a Port Jameson s’more?” asked Bill from the fireside. “Wylie makes the best version. Show her.”
“I intend to,” said Wylie. “First, you’re gonna hold the cone in one hand. We’ve got cake cones and waffle cones, what do you like?”
“Waffle cones,” said Daisy. Wylie opened the box and passed her one.
“Now, you’re gonna put some chocolate on the bottom,” said Wylie. “Wylie opened the grocery bag: the unassuming plastic bag was full of a plethora of treats, with enough candy bars to make a kid’s Halloween very, very happy. “We brought all kinds of candy bars; I wasn’t sure what you liked in your s’mores.”
“Anything with chocolate is fine by me,” said Daisy. Daisy pulled out her favorite candy bar, unwrapped it, and put a bit on the bottom.
“Now, do you like your s’mores gooey?” asked Wylie.
“Of course,” said Daisy.
“Good, then use these,” said Wylie, opening a bag of marshmallows. The marshmallows were square shaped. “They’re locally made but they’re the best thing to use in s’mores. They’re flavored with honey.”
“Not with my honey,” said Daisy, but she took out a handful of mallows. She tried one: it was pretty delicious, although the honey flavor was muted. “Now what?”
“Well, if you break everything up into teeny pieces, you get a more consistent dessert, but if you leave the stuff in big chunks, you get a variety of textures,” said Wylie.
“What do you recommend?” asked Daisy.
“Mix it up. Half chunks, half bits,” said Wylie, demonstrating with his own cone. He put in varied sizes of marshmallow and chocolate and then, covered it with the top of his hand and shook it. Daisy followed suit.
“Good, good,” said Wylie with a smile. “Now, we just wrap it in foil and stick it over the fire.”
He made his s’more in the center of the foil and then put the foil on the end of the stick before making more. Daisy wrapped her own s’more. Liam managed the s’more sticks while Wylie made the little bundles for him to roast.
Wylie gave the first s’more to Daisy. He unwrapped it carefully, exposing the morsel, before picking it up in his fingers and feeding it to Daisy.
The s’more had more than just marshmallow, graham cracker, and chocolate: the s’more was also filled with hot caramel and crunchy nuts, as well as nougat, which made the s’mores taste luxurious even though they were just made with store bought candy bars.
Daisy opened up her s’more as Wylie passed his s’more to Bill. “I made it just the way you liked it,” said Wylie with a wink.
“You guys do this often?” asked Daisy.
“Yeah, we make Port Jameson s’mores at the moonwatching ceremonies sometimes,” said Bill. “Although, you know, we say it’s for the kids...even if it’s really for us.”
“What are the moon watching ceremonies like anyway?” asked Daisy.
“They’re gorgeous, honestly,” said Bill. “There’s nothing like it in the human world, no offense.”
“None taken,” said Daisy.
“The moon ceremony differs by clan,” explained Bill. “The clans are based on family, region, whatever. You can be part of as many clans as will accept you, it’s a voluntary thing, although most people just have a family clan and a town clan.”
“That makes sense,” said Daisy. “What does your clan do?”
“Well, there’s a spot up in the woods for the Port Jameson clan’s games,” said Bill. “You see that tall tree up there?” Bill pointed up into the dark woods. He scooted closer to Daisy so she could see where he was pointing more easily.
Daisy looked and squinted. “Sorry, they’re all the same to me,” said Daisy. Bill was the shifter she’d had the least time around, but whom she was often the most intrigued by. Although he was a man of few words, when he said something, she listened, because he only talked about important things.
“Exactly,” said Bill. “It’s almost impossible for humans to find their way to the moon watching glades. If they end up there, it’s because they’re taken there as part of the clan’s rituals, a privilege few humans have...or because they’re brought there by fate.”
“So how do the shifters find them?” asked Daisy.
“Well, there’s two ways,” said Bill. “Some shifters use their advanced senses, hunting down the routes by using powerful senses of smell and sight, for the most part, although some of our elders have such good hearing they can find the glade in their human forms with their eyes closed just by listening for certain wild birds or insects. They can go in their human or their shifted form. We all personally prefer to go in our shift, which is why we were in bear form all those times we were on your land.”